The Commonwealth of Van Hool Islands is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Prime Minister Ariella Aitken with an even hand, and renowned for its complete lack of prisons, irreverence towards religion, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, hard-working, cheerful population of 8.658 billion Van Hool Islanders have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Vandenbrink. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 84.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Van Hool economy, worth a remarkable 1,346 trillion guilders a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Tourism, and Retail. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 155,494 guilders, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 825,599 per year while the poor average 15,472, a ratio of 53.4 to 1.

Voting is voluntary, lending firms are subject to strict government regulations, scientists recently cloned the long-extinct feather-bellied Orca, and police officers that upset their bosses get assigned to 24 hour stakeouts of bike sheds. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Van Hool Islands's national animal is the Orca, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Van Hool Islands is ranked 291,817^th in the world and 11,109^th in Lazarus for Most Advanced Defense Forces, scoring 353.02 on the Total War Preparedness Rating.